Staff Report
We’re heading into Week 6 in the West Jersey Football League and there are some major implications with a pair of our Glory Days Best 11 teams, as Holy Spirit travels to St. Augustine. The winner gets into the top “playoff pod”, as the four-team postseason brackets are being called. The winner will join Lenape, Cherokee and Williamstown in a pseudo-South Jersey championship bracket. Let’s take a look at who the top 11 teams are heading into the final week of the regular season, according to coach Mac and Mark Trible. You can catch their Facebook Live preview show every Wednesday at 7 p.m. at https://www.facebook.com/acglorydays/
GLORY DAYS BEST 11 (Change in ranking from last week listed before school name)
Dropped out: No. 7 Kingsway. Under consideration: Delsea, Cherry Hill West, Timber Creek, Absegami, Salem, Paulsboro, Delran.
11. (NR) Burlington Township (5-0): “We talked about them beating RV with offense, defense and special teams,” Coach Mac says. Burlington scratched out a 33-27 win over Rancocas Valley last week and has another tough test tonight against Delran.
10. Ocean City (4-0): “They just keep rolling up points on people, very tough, very good. They are cresting,” Coach Mac. The Red Raiders look to keep their perfect regular season going tonight, but they’ll have to do it against arch rival Mainland Regional.
9. (+2) Hammonton (2-1): “They are back in action this week at Cedar Creek and I’m sure they are itching to get back,” Trible said. “Jaiden Abrams is a special running back.”
St. Joseph Academy is up one spot to No. 5 in the latest Glory Days Best 11 rankings. (Glory Days photo/Sully)
8. (+1) Camden (3-1): “Some people would say they might not be No. 8. The problem is there isn’t a 5a, a 5b, you kind of have to list them,” Coach Mac said. Added Trible, “this year, there’s no way for this to come out in the wash, there is no wash. We don’t have 10 weeks, we were just short on games.”
7. (-6) Williamstown (4-1): The Braves suffered their first loss last week, against St. Augustine Prep and will look to rebound in the regular-season finale tonight at Millville.
6. (+2) St. Augustine (3-1): “If St. Augustine wins against Spirit, they go right up on that top shelf for us,” Trible said. The Hermits look like they have righted themselves after a season-opening loss to Millville, and last week took down No. 1 Williamstown, 17-16, in overtime, getting a huge effort from the defense, which limited the Braves to negative rushing yards in the game.
5. (+1) St. Joseph Academy (4-1): The Wildcats have ripped off four straight wins after a season-opening loss to Holy Spirit, and are looking like the team we thought they’d be coming into the season.
4. (+1) Winslow (4-0): “We’ve talked about them, the defense is playing tough, they have enthusiasm,” Coach Mac says. “If we were back in the eight-team bracket world I’d be like, let’s keep them on the other side, let somebody else have a tough one. You’re going to come out of there scraped up.”
3. (+1) Holy Spirit (4-0): “They control their own destiny with the Auggie game, and rightfully so. I would think the winner of that game has the latch on that No. 1 spot,” Coach Mac says. Spirit takes on No. 6 St. Augustine Prep tonight. RB Patrick Smith already has more than 1,000 yards in just four games.
2. (+1) Lenape (4-0): The Indians were cruising along but had a matchup with No. 1 Cherokee canceled on Thursday night because of COVID-19 complications within the Lenape program.
- (+1) Cherokee (5-0): The Chiefs had a showdown with Lenape on Thursday night canceled as Lenape was shut down because of COVID-19, leaving South Jersey fans waiting a few more weeks to find out who the true No. 1 team will be. “We’re talking about how upset everybody is for Lenape, and I have an affinity for that school, having coached there, but it’s just as bad for Cherokee. They haven’t gotten a game for this weekend. They are without a game and that’s just as sad as Lenape not being able to play,” Coach Mac said. “Cherokee wanted to play Lenape just as badly as Lenape wanted to play Cherokee.”
